Isaiah 10: 1: Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees, and that write
grievousness which they have prescribed; 2: To turn aside the needy from judgment, and to take away the
right from the poor of my people, that widows may be their prey, and that
they may rob the fatherless!

God sends
Isaiah to give this woe to oppressors.God
charged them with making wicked laws—They
decree unrighteous decrees and write unjust laws. They did this having
the best civil law that any nation ever had. Their civil law came directly from
God’s hand.Yet corrupt rulers
found ways to write corrupt laws and turn aside the needy from judgment—to judge them unjustly, take away their
rights and enrich themselves. This they did to widows and orphans—the
helpless.But before anyone condemns these
unjust rulers in self-rightteousness, remember, you and I are by nature guilty
sinners the same as they.

Romans 2: 1:
Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for
wherein thou judgest [condemn] another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that
judgest doest the same things. 2:
But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them
which commit such things.

There is
coming a day when God will judge every sinner who is found outside of Christ. Are
you without Christ?A sinner either
rests entirely in Christ by faith or he is outside of Christ.If you are outside of Christ, if you have not
cast your care on Christ, then hear God ask you the same questions he asked
these sinners.

Isaiah 10: 3: And what will ye do in the day of
visitation, and in the desolation which shall come from far?

There is
a day of visitation coming: a day in which God will bring to light every sinner
and his works—and for all outside of Christ that will be a day of desolation—“And what will ye do?”If you do not flee to Christ for help
now, when the day of God’s judgment comes—“to whom will ye flee for help?” If a
man will not flee to Christ for refuge now, then to whom will ye flee for help
then?

Revelation 6: 15: And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the
rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and
every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; 16: And said to the mountains and
rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne,
and from the wrath of the Lamb: 17: For the great day of his wrath is come; and
who shall be able to stand?

If you
reject Christ the Refuge then to whom will ye flee when He HIMSELF comes to judge
you?

Hebrews 10: 26:
For if we sin wilfully [if we willfully reject Christ] after that we have
received the knowledge of the truth, [after we have heard the gospel in truth] there
remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, 27:
But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which
shall devour the adversaries.

“And where will ye leave your glory?” Where will you leave all that you went after all your
life in this world?Those things you
coveted, adored, labored for, fought for, lived for, died for, and rejected
Christ for?Your glory such as material stuff, the
glory of rank, position and power and influence, the glory of career, the glory
of pleasure, your intellectual glory, the glory of fame and fortune, the glory
of every vain religious work you ever did for salvation? What about that glory
that should have been your chief concern, your soul. You will not be able to
commit it into Christ’s hands then. So where will you leave your glory?

Isaiah 2: 20:
In that day a man shall cast his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which
they made each one for himself to worship, to the moles and to the bats;
21: To go into the clefts of the
rocks, and into the tops of the ragged rocks, for fear of the LORD, and for the
glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth.

The Lord
our Savior answers these questions himself.

Isaiah 10: 4: Without me they shall bow down under the prisoners, and they
shall fall under the slain. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his
hand is stretched out still.

Without
Christ sinners shall perish forever as a prisoner in chains of darkness.“For
all this, his anger is not turned away”—you will never satisfy his justice—“his hand will be stretched out” in fury
upon you for eternity.

Proposition:
There is only one refuge for sinners to whom we must flee right now—Christ
Jesus our Refuge!

So I want
to tell you about Christ the Refuge.What
kind of refuge is the Lord Jesus Christ?

AN APPOINTED REFUGE

The Lord
Jesus, God’s own Son, was ordained of God from eternity to be the refuge of his
people.In Israel, God appointed six
cities of refuge. These cities of refuge were for the manslayer who killed
someone unawares.That is what the Holy
Spirit reveals to his people. We have crucified the Lord of glory unawares.
Christ said that when the Spirit is come, he will convince you of sin, because
ye believe not on me.God appointed the
city of refuge for when the manslayer found that he was guilty and justice
pursued him. Then he could flee into one of those six cities and find refuge.

God the
Father chose and appointed Christ to be the Refuge of his people.He is appointed the High Priest of his people
to satisfy divine justice for us.God
appointed him the Prophet of his people to teach us the gospel effectually in
our hearts. And God appointed him the King of his people to protect and defend
us by his almighty, sovereign power

Proverbs 14: 26: In the fear of the LORD is strong
confidence: and his children shall have a place of refuge.

AN ABLE REFUGE

Many
sinners seek safety in a false refuge in this world or in their flesh or their
works where they are not shielded and protected.

Isaiah 36: 6: Lo, thou trustest in the staff of this
broken reed, on Egypt; whereon if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and
pierce it: so is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all that trust in him.

But of
our Lord Jesus God said, “I have laid
help upon one that is MIGHTY; I
have exalted one chosen out of
the people.” (Ps 89:19)Christ was
able to take flesh like unto his brethren and fulfill all righteousness for us.He
was able to bear the sin and the curse of his people to the full satisfaction
of justice.Our victorious Redeemer is now risen and
ever lives as the great High Priest of his people

Hebrews 7: 25: Wherefore he is able also to save them to
the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make
intercession for them.

When his
people suffer, he knows because he suffered it. Therefore, Christ is able to succor
his people.

Hebrews 2: 18: In that he himself hath suffered, being
tempted, he is able to succour them that
are tempted…”

He is
able to heal poor sinners like us and make us every whit whole.

Matthew 8: 2:
And, behold, there came a leper and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt,
thou canst make me clean. 3: And
Jesus put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will; be thou
clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.

A REFUGE AT HAND

When God
appointed the cities of refuge in Israel, he placed them so that no matter where
you were in Israel you were near a city of refuge.For those whom God has
convinced need righteousness—the Lord our Righteousness is near

Romans 10: 6:
But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine
heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from
above:) 7: Or, Who shall
descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.) 8: But what saith it? The word is nigh
thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith,
which we preach; 9: That if thou
shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart
that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 10: For with the heart man believeth
unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

For you and
who already rest in him, when you find yourself in troubles of trial and
affliction, remember,

Psalm 46: 1: God is our refuge and strength, a
very present help in trouble.

FOR ALL KINDS OF SINNERS

Christ is
a refuge for all kinds of sinners.Young
or old, those who know doctrine, those who don’t know much at all, rich or
poor, male or female—Christ is a refuge for all kinds.Like the thief on the cross, to all kinds of
sinners,

Revelation 22: 17: And the Spirit and the bride say,
Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And
whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.

Sinner,
never imagine you have to experience some great feeling or some great
experience—are you thirsty?Do you need Christ to be all your salvation?
Are you totally ruined in sin? Then come.Never imagine you have to reach a certain
level of doctrinal knowledge?Salvation
is not in what you know. Paul said I
know WHOM I have believed!Do you
know Christ? Do you believe he is the Son of God who accomplished the
salvation of his people and that he is that salvation? Come to him!

The one
thing required about you is that you be a sinner unable to do one thing to save
yourself.Never imagine that you have to
reform your life and put away sin before you can come to him! Paul said, "I was a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious; but I obtained
mercy." 1 Tim. i. 13. Christ
said, “I came not to call the righteous
but sinners to repentance.” (Mk 2: 17) If you are sinner, a ruined, needy, totally
helpless sinner who believes Christ is All your salvation then “take of the water of life freely”

THE ONLY REFUGE

We could
look at the truth that Christ is an unchanging refuge, a refuge opened, and an
eternal refuge. But I must tell you that Christ is the only refuge.

Acts 4: 12: Neither is there salvation in any other: for
there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be
saved.

Salvation,
justification, holiness, redemption is not by our works under the law nor by
our religious works

No other
could justify us from our sins.There is no other that could have
made atonement for the sins of his people but Christ, God’s own Son. God chose
him and sent him! And the GodMan Mediator said, “It is finished!”

Acts 13: 38Be it known unto you therefore, men and
brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: 39And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye
could not be justified by the law of Moses.

WHAT IS IT TO FLEE TO CHRIST FOR REFUGE?

To flee
to Christ is to do so with need.Imagine if your boat sank in the ocean. To flee to Christ with need is to cast
your care on him like you would if there was only one plank floating in the
middle of the ocean.

To flee
to Christ is to believe on him for all
your need. Believe on him for forgiveness of all your sins. Believe on him for
free justification from all your sins. Believe on him for the righteousness
wherein you can appear before God and be received. Believe on him for holiness.
Believe on him for mercy, grace, peace, strength, comfort—for all things!We do not believe on him for some things but
depend on ourselves for other things—we trust him to do all the saving! To be all our
acceptance with God!

To flee to
Christ is to believe on him with urgency.If the ax head flew off your ax and
killed a man and you realized you are the manslayer with justice pursuing you
to put you to death, how fast would you flee to that city of refuge?You
would run to that city because you know you are in imminent danger!Well, it is true, sinner, the avenger of
blood is at your heels! So flee because of the uncertainty of your life. We are
here today, and gone to-morrow. No time is ours but the present time. Today is
the day of salvation!

Be sure
to hear this!No guilty sinner that
repented and believed the gospel and came to Christ for mercy has ever been turned
away!“He delighteth to show mercy!”

Now, to you
who have fled to Christ, never cease coming to Christ! Never turn from him,
never cease resting entirely in him! We have “strong consolation who have fledfor refuge to lay hold on the hope set
before us.”So be sure you are never
caught outside of Christ our Refuge! By the grace of God,

Hebrews 10: 39: But we are not of them who draw back unto
perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.

Hebrews 3: 14: We
are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast
unto the end…

One last
thing, let’s answer those questions in our text for the believer resting in
Christ. What will believers do in the day
of visitation when desolation comes to those outside of Christ? We will rest
safe and secure in Christ our Refuge. Where
will believers flee? We will not have to flee; we will be safe in Christ
our Refuge. Our judgment was settled at the cross!Where
will we leave our glory? Christ is our glory and he prayed Father “I will that they be where I am that they may
behold my glory.” “When his glory shall be revealed, [then shall
we] be glad also with exceeding joy.”

Matthew 25:34: Then shall the King say unto them on his
right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you
from the foundation of the world:

Jude 1: 24: [He will] present you faultless before the
presence of his glory with exceeding joy,..

1 John 3: 2:…when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for
we shall see him as he is.